English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:(0.00 / 0 votes)

education

Education (Latin educere, to lead or draw out) is the systematic development and cultivation of the mind and other natural powers. "Education is the harmonious development of all our faculties. It begins in the nursery, and goes on at school, but does not end there. It continues through life, whether we will or not.... 'Every person,' says Gibbon, 'has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one more important, which he gives himself.'" John LubbockThe Use of Life ch. vii, p. 111. [Macmillan & Co. '94.] Instruction, the impartation of knowledge by others (Latin instruere, to build in or into) is but a part of education, often the smallest part. Teaching is the more familiar and less formal word for instruction. Training refers not merely to the impartation of knowledge, but to the exercising of one in actions with the design to form habits. Discipline is systematic and rigorous training, with the idea of subjection to authority and perhaps of punishment. Tuition is the technical term for teaching as the business of an instructor or as in the routine of a school; tuition is narrower than teaching, not, like the latter word, including training. Study is emphatically what one does for himself. We speak of the teaching, training, or discipline, but not of the education or tuition of a dog or a horse. Breeding and nurture include teaching and training, especially as directed by and dependent upon home life and personal association; breeding having reference largely to manners with such qualities as are deemed distinctively characteristic of high birth; nurture (literally nourishing) having more direct reference to moral qualities, not overlooking the physical and mental. Knowledge and learning tell nothing of mental development apart from the capacity to acquire and remember, and nothing whatever of that moral development which is included in education in its fullest and noblest sense; learning, too, may be acquired by one's unaided industry, but any full education must be the result in great part of instruction, training, and personal association. Study is emphatically what one does for himself, and in which instruction and tuition can only point the way, encourage the student to advance, and remove obstacles; vigorous, persevering study is one of the best elements of training. Study is also used in the sense of the thing studied, a subject to be mastered by study, a studious pursuit. Compare KNOWLEDGE; REFINEMENT; WISDOM.